"Yahoo Canned Me": An Engineer's Lament

A SAI commenter describes recently fired Yahoo! Lance Nishihira as a “ui rockstar”. We’re in no position to judge Lance’s engineering bona fides, but we can say this — he’s an entertaining writer. Lance, laid off last week, details his sacking at Son Of A Pig Farmer blog, where he manages to name-check both “Office Space” and “The Matrix” in one candid post:

I was sitting at my desk, sketching out a particularly hairly problem, earplugs in and focused. My director’s boss came to my desk and asked if he could meet with me for a second. Thinking that he wanted to talk about the aforementioned hairy problem, I instinctivly grabbed my clipboard, ready to explain our status and current direction.

As I was following him, something started to smell fishy. It dawned on me that I recalled watching KTVU Morning News, and layoffs were happening today. I started to piece things together. “Hey…waitaminnuutt. I never meet with Mr. Lumbergh!,” I realised…

Within seconds of me sitting back at my desk to collect my thoughts, the phone rang. It was a recruiter. Now, under normal circumstances, professional code of conduct dictates that you discreetly and in the most emotionally-detached manner possible tell them to take a hike. That ship had sailed.

“SURE!,” I blurted as I sat back in my chair and put my feet up on my ergonomically- designed work surface,” I’d love to hear about opportunities at other companies! What’s that? Mayo Clinic? I heard that’s a pretty good outfit!”

Meanwhile, we’re still tracking Yahoos! who’ve left: If you’ve got a name to share, please let us know in comments below or drop us a line at [email protected]